The immediate fallout was pure comedic art. Sterling tried to host an angry live video on his phone to complain to his thousands of followers about “gross city authority abuse,” but a crowd of local onlookers immediately shouted him down, holding up their own phones to show the posted emergency signage.
By midnight, videos of the high-end tow sweep were trending at the top of every local news feed. The public cheered the hospital for finally taking a hard stance and putting actual patient lives ahead of wealthy donors’ egos.
Completely blindsided by the overwhelming wave of positive local news coverage, the hospital PR department scrambled to release an official statement: “We are incredibly proud to strictly enforce zero-tolerance safety zones for our emergency patients. We value lives.”